St. Maarten -The Public Prosecutor’s Office has started a civil investigation at the Harbor Group of Companies. All documents requested by the prosecutor have been submitted via the harbor lawyers and now will go through an assessment process. “We will now have experts look at the documents to further our investigation,” press prosecutor Karola van Nie said yesterday.

On July 13, prosecutors requested information about the policies and course of affairs from the St. Maarten Harbor Holding NV and from its closely linked companies. The Public Prosecutor’s Office may obtain information regarding the policies of the legal entity and the course of its affairs. The harbor is obliged to provide the information and to allow inspection of its books, documents and other data carriers. The prosecutor’s office initiated this civil investigation based on signals from the community and based on the integrity reports from the Bob Wit-Committee and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Harbor Group has been quiet about the investigation. The investigation concerns the corporate governance of the port authority in a broad sense and addresses issues, amongst others, about compliance with the law, compliance with the statutes, transparency, and some specific issues, including the course of affairs with regard to the construction of the Simpson Bay Causeway. The prosecutor’s office emphasizes that this is a civil and not a criminal investigation.

“The investigation will take some time because it is technical. I cannot say what documents were requested and received but the harbor has complied thus far with the investigation,” Van Nie said.